Creamy White and Stainless Reveal

meyersdvmJuly 2, 2013

We are 99% done so it is time for the reveal!

Thanks to GW the new kitchen is very functional as well as pretty. We lived in the house about a year before undertaking the kitchen reno and learned what worked (view) and what was sorely lacking (storage and counter space). We kept the sink in the same spot, but moved the range to be centered on the wall and recessed the refrigerator into the laundry room behind it.

I love my baking station on the window wall and the prep zone/clean up zone has everything within one step. I am cooking so much more already that I better start running more or I am going to gain a LOT of weight!

Thanks again for all the advice and input from the helpful members on GW :)

Wow! That is one absolutely glorious kitchen. I would be cooking all day every day in a space that beautiful! Your granite is one of the most stunning I've ever seen. Just love every aspect of your well planned and beautiful space.

I cant believe how much bigger it looks! Smart to put the fridge tucked in the wall. And all the organizers.
Stunning counters. Love the water view!
Nice to hear its a joy to work in. Really really pretty.

Love love love your kitchen! I am so happy to see a sink/dishwasher on a penninsula looking into a dining space because that is what my kitchen is going to be and it is hard to find examples. Yours looks fabulous.

Can I ask what the upper stacked cabinet sizes are? 30"/18"? Do you have 9 foot ceilings?

Gorgeous! I can't stop staring at your cabinets, they are so beautiful and well done. Everything goes together perfectly and the special storage is wonderful. BTW, what is in the cabinet to the left of the center drawers under the window? It looks unique. Love the personal touches, DIY shades, kids art, and especially your fur baby!

Lovely! Even the floor has so much personality (and coordinates with the dog!) and that granite, oh, that granite. Going up the wall to give us a better look, wow! Toekick drawers, stacked cabs, and full-height sink doors, you can store AND GET TO everything. The faucet is so elegant, nothing to get in the way of the view of your family enjoying your cooking, oh, yeah, and the water, too. Excuse me, I'm going back to gaze at the tiger wood floor now.

Love it all!! Your decorative toe kicks, the clever storage, the counters, window wall, and baking station... are inspired...I could keep going...Enjoy your new space and all that new cooking energy....

I'm (almost) speechless. Your kitchen is amazingly beautiful. I never saw such lovely granite....the color and the "creamy-ness" are show stopping. The cabinets, floor...also stunning. Put that together with your drop dead gorgeous view and I'd never leave the house.

Congratulations! I really appreciate how you took the limitations of the room and squeezed out maximum space. The toe kick drawers and other cabinet details are great, and I love your stacks. That is an amazing edge on your baking station.

I love your kitchen and your Golden : ) He/she looks like a happy camper. Everything is beautiful, I love your granite and what you did with the edges. Great creativity, kudos for giving it something special and making it your own. I was going to say kudos for giving it an edge but that would be too much of a pun!!! Great job!

Holy crap! You turned a closed in little space (at least that's how it looked in the Before pics) to a fabulous, open, functional kitchen. You must have twice as much storage space, and your counters are beyond gorgeous.

Your window is magnificent! I noticed how lovely it was way before I noticed the stunning view, what part of the country do you live?

The floors are stunning, as are the cabinets, granite, the bump out baking station with that great long stretch of counter space! You did a fabulous job of positioning the hardware on the cabinets, especially the narrow ones. Great toe kicks!

Congratulations on a beautiful, functional, not to mention gorgeous kitchen! Enjoy with your happy doggie!

Your kitchen is beyond gorgeous! The feel of it is so peaceful, open and light. It does look so much bigger. You are so very blessed to cook in such a delightful place. You did really really good! Enjoy!

Thank you for all the compliments. All the warm fuzzies help validate that it did turn out as well as I hoped!

Here are a few more details and answers to ?s

Trailrunner- the window is the original one, the only change is the window treatment and the counters running into the sill. I never realized I had such a nice big window on that side of the kitchen until we started demo- LOL

SanJuan- We are in west central FL

Writersblock- The range was purchased online from AJ Madison this spring. I just looked, but it is no longer on their website. I love the induction and the convection oven has been very accurate. I hope it's not a bad sign that they are not carrying it any longer. At least I bought it with Amex to double the warranty...

Legallin- How astute you are! I forgot to post my microwave cab. We don't use it that often, mostly I use it to soften butter for baking or maybe to make some veggies for a quick dinner. It is a bit low for everyday use, but since I have kiddos that will soon be of a more helpful age, they can bend down for me.

Kam76- Here are the dimensions. We have just shy of 9 ft ceilings

Once I decided to do a full height splash, I wanted plugmold to avoid cutting holes in the granite slab. I got it on one side, but sparky wasn't able to do it due to a firebreak on the other side. I opted for a 4 gang receptacle instead. My coffee pot lives there and it is very convenient to have the extra outlets available. Best of both worlds, I guess. Also note the new BlendTec. All the VitaMix posts enabled me. I love that thing!

I had originally planned for the 6cm edge to be on all parts of the kitchen, but due to vein matching and the unavailability of a 3rd slab, I had to limit the stacked edge to the window wall. This worked out in my favor since the focus ends up only on the baking station and it is much harder to clean! I love it, but am glad I have a simple ogee edge in my everyday prep area. This also made it possible for me to have the full height splash on the range wall. Since the stone was 3cm and the fabricator was unwilling to cut it down to 2 cm, I had them bevel all exposed edges of the splash so I don't have such a thick edge.

The refrigerator alcove still needs a shelf above the fridge. When DH gets to that remains TBD as I have a long list of other projects for him :) I have plenty of depth and width (as well as height), but I didn't think about the fact that if you opened the doors into the trim, I would get dents/creases in the stainless. I can access everything with the doors only open 90 degrees, but ended up pulling out the fridge so the doors could open fully. This led to a change in the cab next to the fridge. It was originally a drawer on top, but the drawer would now have hit the fridge. Some things you can't plan for I guess.

A couple other tidbits hopefully someone may find useful-
I replaced the recommended GU10 halogen bulbs in the range hood with LED bulbs. Now my kitchen is exclusively lit with LEDs.
I totally love my Kohler sink strainer. I have always had el cheapo strainers if I even had one at all. The Waste King L-8000 disposal is a beast. It is much quieter than the old KitchenAid and has an in home lifetime warranty.

I splurged on my cabs and counters and tried to save everywhere else. Amazon open box deals saved a ton for my sink, faucet, sink strainer, etc. The hardware was a steal at less than $2 per knob/pull from Overstock. I found them from GlideRite at the same price with free shipping when I went to order extras.

We were so blessed to be able to do this that I felt so bad about complaining about renovation woes to friends/family. I had initially planned for a lot more intricate details, but am so glad I restrained myself. Classic and elegant is what I wanted and think I achieved. I have to pinch myself that it is MY kitchen :)

Meyers, I totally understand your strainer joy! My sink isn't installed yet, but I have spend an inordinate amount of time playing with the strainer... Imagine what I'll be like when I have soft-close drawers and hinges to play with!

Beautiful job!! You clearly spent a lot of time thinking through the details and it shows! I love the bump out baking center. That will be a lot of fun as your kids get bigger! Congrats! Beautiful golden too. It really does look like s/he is smiling!

FANTASTIC in every way! What a difference the extra height makes in the 'after' cabinets vs the 'before'... I love all the details- the furniture style toe kicks, the edge on the granite, the stacked cabinets, the hood. All wonderful! What a great space and what a wonderful lesson about how much of a difference can be achieved even when staying within the same footprint. (We are staying more or less in the same footprint so this was especially inspirational for me.) Also, I love your hidden microwave. How clever! Must bookmark this one.

While i'm a fan of wood stained cabinets, I really do like your kitchen, particularly the granite backsplash.

We did the same granite backsplash as the counter tops and after 7 years we are still loving it! It it sooooo easy to clean, which doesn't hafta be done all that often, plus I like looking at the granite from a distance, (without having to go into kitchen and stand right over it , to see it).

I'm glad I "Finally" got company as far as backsplashes go.
Good luck with your Kitchen, I hope You are as happy with it after 7 years , as we are!

so lovely.......Great work.... You have good instincts!! I wonder why more people don't do the contiguous counter and backsplash in the same granite-it's a great option.....it all looks so pulled together. Love how it's light and fresh but without being a "beach house kitchen" particularly...it's a huge upgrade-so enjoy!!

The full height splash was a decision I worried over. Many of the darker granites that I have seen used as a slab backsplash really darkened the kitchen. I spent a small fortune on tile samples but none were right. The fabricator warned me that even if I had all the colors perfect, the added pattern from any other material may be too busy. The full height splash makes me smile every time I see it. Keeping the stainless splash for function also helps break up that much stone.

MrsPete- I considered adding a pendant over the baking center since the wiring was there already, but it was slightly off center and I have a tendency toward OCD for things matching up. That was also one of the areas I retrained myself from adding too many details.

Renov8r- here is a quick iPad photo of my hardware. One of the big benefits of working with a custom cabinet maker is he had to rout out the trim for the handles to fit in the narrow drawers.

I love the style of the double kitchen cabinets, the white shade you used, the beautiful mixed hardware knobs and handles, the gorgeous counter, the beautiful Tigerwood hardwood floors, the appliances chosen, the big window, the granite going up the wall as your backsplash, and just the overall look. Your Golden is the added special touch! Thank you for sharing.